City Builder and Colony Sim Discussion Thread

[Zed Clampet]

Channelling George Michael: Wake me up, when it one point O'O's

You'll have to set your alarm. I won't be paying attention to Timberborn at that point. I've probably got a few more rounds in me because I'm making my own maps, but a month or two from now I'll barely remember the game. Plus, if they add the combat stuff, I won't play it, so I'm getting my money's worth now.

******

Played some Kingdoms Reborn today. Right as winter started, my coal mine ran out of coal. And that's when I realized that my foresters weren't keeping up with demand, and we were also out of wood. It was bad.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

You'll have to set your alarm. I won't be paying attention to Timberborn at that point. I've probably got a few more rounds in me because I'm making my own maps, but a month or two from now I'll barely remember the game. Plus, if they add the combat stuff, I won't play it, so I'm getting my money's worth now.

******

Played some Kingdoms Reborn today. Right as winter started, my coal mine ran out of coal. And that's when I realized that my foresters weren't keeping up with demand, and we were also out of wood. It was bad.

Yea I will, game sounds fun and I'm glad they didnt neglect the end game.

@McStabStab Tropico is another one I should give a go sometime, thanks for the reminder.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Yea I will, game sounds fun and I'm glad they didnt neglect the end game.

@McStabStab Tropico is another one I should give a go sometime, thanks for the reminder.

Well, the thing about the ending, as it stands now, is that you have to stop and think about it for a minute. It's not like a normal narrative ending. There's no text or anything. Depending on your personal definition of story and ending, you might be disappointed in it as it is currently. But, of course, it is likely to change by the end of early access. In case you or someone else doesn't care to know what happens, I'll go ahead and put it here in a spoiler.

Spoiler: Spoiler: The is the "ending" to Timberborn

All the beavers lose their jobs to robots. And I can't confirm this yet because I've been starting over at this point, but I don't think they reproduce if they don't have jobs, so they are going to die out, leaving you with nothing but robots. I'm going to test this in my current game.

Speaking of Timberborn, I've decided it doesn't actually have enough content for full release right now. It seems like a lot during the first playthrough, but after you get the hang of it, you can kind of speed-run it. It's still fun, and I especially like making my own maps and then playing them. I'll probably still get a lot more hours into it before I take a break and wait for full release (but will probably never play it again).

 

[Zed Clampet]

@Pifanjr Haven't put much more time into Aven Colony yet, but I'm still enjoying it. However, and this may sound a little odd, the fact that you can't see your colony members makes me not really care about the colony as much. You can only see people if you zoom in on a window. Other than that, all you see are drones. To me this gives it a little different feel. I've grown attached to the beavers in Timberborn, and there's just no equivalent in Aven Colony.

It's still fun. It just isn't as personal, if any of that makes any sense. Maybe it's just a flaw in my imagination.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Don't believe the random folks talking about how easy Kingdoms Reborn is. I have the achievement for making it to the Middle Ages, an early game goal, and only 8 percent of players have that achievement. It's like completing Chapter 1.

The crazy part is that it only gets harder. I've been bashing my head against the Age of Enlightenment for 3 hours now and have yet to make any significant progress. Actually, it's getting a bit frustrating.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Even though it can be tough, Kingdoms Reborn is really good. There is a ton of strategy involved. I have 18 hours in it so far.

There are four playable factions, each with their own specialized buildings. I haven't played to the end with anyone yet, but I've played both Duchy and Norsemen. Don't really have a recommendation between those two except that the Norsemen get mead, which is an easy tier 2 luxury.

 

[Zed Clampet]

@Brian Boru It dawned on me that Kingdoms Reborn is basically Civilization except with an extreme level of city play and detail. At least, it matches up with the way that I play Civilization. I seem to remember one of your personal main activities was exploration, which you don't get a lot of in Kingdoms. I always just put my explorers on auto.

Speaking of exploration, I did find some impressive ancient ruins and took control of the area, and it gives me tourism dollars, and some day it will give a boost to my hotel industry (whenever I get that far).

But you pick and place all the buildings and have two very large tech trees. You can advance your military all the way to the modern age, and you can attack those around you (or defend yourself), and later you can attack across the sea. Battles are not as in depth as in Civ. You pick which units you want in the battle, and the war plays out automatically over time. About the only things you can do after the battle starts is send in reinforcements or tell your units to retreat.

Guido basically plays it exactly like he plays Civ, and in our co-op game, every 15 minutes (appx) I'm getting a message that he's conquered someone else. Like Civ, there are a ton of civilizations that aren't in the running to win the game. You can vassalize them and receive regular payments from them.

I'm not entirely sure what all the conditions for winning are, but I think that if you build 4 wonders, you win. How else you win, I'm not sure. There may not even be other ways to win, but I assume that if you conquer all the competing factions that you win. I'm playing a version where there aren't any AI factions, so I really haven't cared about winning since I can't help but to win eventually. But there are a lot of options when you set up your game, and you can add as many AI factions as you like.

 

[Brian Boru]

Kingdoms Reborn is basically Civilization

I already got that vibe from your earlier post, and had a look on Steam + wishlisted. The procedural gen means there can be a lot of replay if it works well. Remarkable work for a solo dev!

Battles are not as in depth as in Civ

That's good news, once I get the hang of Civ war it becomes boring for me, and is of course the easiest way to win once you learn the AI's routines. If an AI declares on me, I assess how long it'll take to zap hir and either plough thru the yawn or roll a new game.

a lot of options when you set up your game

I like the sound of that, thanks for the heads-up 🙂

 

[Zed Clampet]

I'm entering a map making contest for Timberborn. Here is my first map called Well of the World.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Just uploaded my map to the mod/map site. There are a few other contest submissions, so I'm screwed 🤣

But I like my archipelago, and I had fun making it, which is the important thing.

 

[Brian Boru]

my first map called Well of the World

Nice first try, should've called it Paddyland:
♣ Obvious Chinese influence
♦ Even the water is green …ish
😀

 

[Zed Clampet]

Nice first try, should've called it Paddyland:
♣ Obvious Chinese influence
♦ Even the water is green …ish
😀

Well, there's already one called Paddy.

The difference between my map and a lot of them is that every area on my map is playable. See, the playable height of a map is only a few blocks high. Most people are ignoring that and building quite high. It makes the maps look better, but everything after a certain height can't be built on, so they are favoring aesthetics over playability. Maybe I should add a little more height here and there for looks. Not sure. I have no idea why they put the height limit so low.

Also, any elevation change more than 2 blocks high creates a difficult situation for the player because of all the platforms and stairs needed to scale it.

What I'm trying to say is that my real problem, other than being graphic design disabled, is that I prefer my gaming to be easy, so I make my maps to be easy.

But, hey, a few people have downloaded my map today, so it must not be all that ugly.

The more I look at it the more I hate it, though, so it will be lucky if I don't take it down. This is why I never really wrote much fiction even though my professors told me I was good at it. I simply hate my own work (although the map really is mediocre at best).

 

[Brian Boru]

my real problem … is that I prefer my gaming to be easy, so I make my maps to be easy

That's not a problem, it's a preference—it'll appeal to players of similar preference, but not to those who like pain. So forget attempting any RPG maps!

it will be lucky if I don't take it down

No, don't do that, just leave it for people who enjoy it. If you don't like it, go make a 'better' one and upload that too 🙂

I don't know the game, but it looks decent compared to an Archipelago map in Civ.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Here's my second try: Eyrie's Talon

That should be a proper pain in the arse for people who like to play that way.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Given the map making restrictions, I'm reasonably happy with my second map. I think I'm done with maps now. I started this one a couple of days ago, and it was fun, but unless I just think of something outstanding to do, I'm kind of over it.

*****

I made it to the Industrial Age in Kingdoms Reborn and have my second wonder built. This is the final age in Early Access. 3.8 percent of players have gone that far.

 

[Zed Clampet]

It's distant on the horizon, but I can see victory in Kingdoms Reborn. I am working on my third wonder, and the fourth (and last) won't be far off.

Had a mini-crisis. My people's happiness was dropping. I looked through the numbers and we had developed to the point where "tourism happiness" was a thing. Turns out, the more we dealt with imports/exports, the more the people wanted to travel.

So what I had to do was research globalization, set up trade agreements with foreign countries, and then raise our relationships with these countries (I just gifted them cash) until they let me build hotels/resorts in their territories. Sure enough, that caused the happiness to go back up. It's at 98 percent now.

To think my people used to hate me.

 

[McStabStab]

Wow, incredible maps! Nice work!

 

[Zed Clampet]

So apparently there's only one winning condition in Kingdoms Reborn right now, and that is accumulating 1 million coins. The game tells you that you will win if you build 4 wonders, but there aren't 4 wonders to build. I suspect those will be in the last age, which isn't in the game yet. I did get to 1 million, though, so time to start a new game.

 

[Johnway]

On a A city management side of things, a few months ago i was itching to get anno 1800 and decided to play anno 1401 instead. After watching some youtube video and a couple quick letsplays i've got to say i'm somewhat muted to the whole series now. its the exact same mechanics and processes but with a different skin. Sure some mechanic changes but in the grand scheme of things? same game, same rinse and repeat processes to building a city.

there is DLC but it just makes the supply/trade lines much more complicated. The idea of creating nice and beautiful cities is not going to happen to me. Square blocks to maximize production for the win. Oh i could build cosmetics and beautify the city etc. The only problem? costs resources. Sometimes MORE resources. If it was a skin or something over the same amount, i might be more persuaded but in Anno 1401 i found it did very little but to satisfy my vanity. Which took a back seat to day to day economics.

 

[Zed Clampet]

On a A city management side of things, a few months ago i was itching to get anno 1800 and decided to play anno 1401 instead. After watching some youtube video and a couple quick letsplays i've got to say i'm somewhat muted to the whole series now. its the exact same mechanics and processes but with a different skin. Sure some mechanic changes but in the grand scheme of things? same game, same rinse and repeat processes to building a city.

there is DLC but it just makes the supply/trade lines much more complicated. The idea of creating nice and beautiful cities is not going to happen to me. Square blocks to maximize production for the win. Oh i could build cosmetics and beautify the city etc. The only problem? costs resources. Sometimes MORE resources. If it was a skin or something over the same amount, i might be more persuaded but in Anno 1401 i found it did very little but to satisfy my vanity. Which took a back seat to day to day economics.

In Kingdoms Reborn, there are a bunch of things that impact people's happiness and one of them is the aesthetics of the city. Their happiness is important because it has a huge impact on their productivity, so it really encourages you to focus on it a little bit. Unfortunately, the game is still in early access and beautifying the city is still pretty simple so far. Besides picking the right places to build, all you do is run around planting shrubs haha.

People keep upgrading their houses when you produce enough luxuries, and they continuously look better, but that just gives them happiness surrounding their houses as opposed to beautification.

In Timberborn, you have the same sort of thing. Your citizens have a happiness score (I'm not sure what it does, if anything), and you can plant bushes, build interesting roofs, place statues and monuments, etc. But right now (also in early access) it's just busy work as opposed to being helpful. It doesn't seem to impact their productivity.

 

[Johnway]

In Kingdoms Reborn, there are a bunch of things that impact people's happiness and one of them is the aesthetics of the city. Their happiness is important because it has a huge impact on their productivity, so it really encourages you to focus on it a little bit. Unfortunately, the game is still in early access and beautifying the city is still pretty simple so far. Besides picking the right places to build, all you do is run around planting shrubs haha.

People keep upgrading their houses when you produce enough luxuries, and they continuously look better, but that just gives them happiness surrounding their houses as opposed to beautification.

In Timberborn, you have the same sort of thing. Your citizens have a happiness score (I'm not sure what it does, if anything), and you can plant bushes, build interesting roofs, place statues and monuments, etc. But right now (also in early access) it's just busy work as opposed to being helpful. It doesn't seem to impact their productivity.

What i really need to get is planet coaster as the way you can design the various rides, shops, paths etc appeals to me greatly. The only problem is that besides sandbox, there's very little else besides the scenario mode and honestly i hate rebuilding things from scratch and yet sandbox mode gives me reservations as well. When it comes to sandbox the entertainment is made by myself and if i',m not feeling ambitious/creative its depressing to play at times. Cities skylines/ sim city i probably made one city, committed around 50 hours to one city and called it quits when i was expanding a city for expansion's sake. Sure i downloaded mods and such to make it look nice but just wasn't for me.

In Anno the homes of the cities do improve and look nicer, the streets themselves? unless you upgrade to stone paths it remains dirt ones... Sure it does improve the speed of carts, but considering i place my industry far far away from settlement areas. Ok, there were times i was drowning in stone, but there's always time to build more production that requires stone etc. I think the cosmetic stuff is for super late end game when everything has been done and you've won the scenario/sandbox which again, makes the whole idea of making something beautiful a bit pointless.

 

[Zed Clampet]

What i really need to get is planet coaster as the way you can design the various rides, shops, paths etc appeals to me greatly. The only problem is that besides sandbox, there's very little else besides the scenario mode and honestly i hate rebuilding things from scratch and yet sandbox mode gives me reservations as well. When it comes to sandbox the entertainment is made by myself and if i',m not feeling ambitious/creative its depressing to play at times. Cities skylines/ sim city i probably made one city, committed around 50 hours to one city and called it quits when i was expanding a city for expansion's sake. Sure i downloaded mods and such to make it look nice but just wasn't for me.

In Anno the homes of the cities do improve and look nicer, the streets themselves? unless you upgrade to stone paths it remains dirt ones... Sure it does improve the speed of carts, but considering i place my industry far far away from settlement areas. Ok, there were times i was drowning in stone, but there's always time to build more production that requires stone etc. I think the cosmetic stuff is for super late end game when everything has been done and you've won the scenario/sandbox which again, makes the whole idea of making something beautiful a bit pointless.

I don't know if this helps you or not, but in Planet Coaster there is a Challenge mode available for all 7 biomes, and it is also possible to create and play custom challenges. This kind of extends the game beyond just the scenarios and creative mode. You can play the same Challenge mode game long-term if you don't like rebuilding. But also you can create blueprints when you build that make rebuilding very easy.

And, of course, since we were talking about cosmetic stuff, it is always very important in Planet Coaster, especially in Challenge mode higher difficulties. It can impact both ride and park reputations.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Started going through the Tropico 6 tutorials last night. I'm impatient, so I can only do so much tutorial in one sitting. Also, with all the colony/city builders I've been playing lately, I'm pretty sure I could figure it out without the tutorial, but you never know if there's some cool feature I'll never find out about unless I play the tutorial...

 

[Pifanjr]

Started going through the Tropico 6 tutorials last night. I'm impatient, so I can only do so much tutorial in one sitting. Also, with all the colony/city builders I've been playing lately, I'm pretty sure I could figure it out without the tutorial, but you never know if there's some cool feature I'll never find out about unless I play the tutorial...

This is why I would prefer it if games still had manuals and made the tutorial optional (and preferably modular). I can skim a manual much faster than I can play through a tutorial for most games.

Kerbal Space Program was great in that regard. The tutorial is broken up in pieces you can do in any order, so I just did the first few, skimmed through the manual and jumped into the game.

 

[Zed Clampet]

Played some Kingdoms Reborn with my son today. My first move was a tactical error of magnificent scope, but that just made the first hour more interesting as I attempted to recover.

@Kaamos_Llama as I play more and more colony sims, I realize how different Timberborn is. I need to play it on a higher difficulty and play the second faction to get a better feel for how others might want to play it. It's so easy to set up a really chill experience on there, and that's my much preferred way of playing.